[4] In 1662, upon arrival of the news at Aleppo that the patriarch of Antioch had died and an election for his successor was pending, Catholic missionaries and Francois Baron, the French consul of Aleppo, secured the support of the sultan through bribes, enthroned Ignatius Andrew Akijan as patriarch on 20 August, and Andrew received official recognition in a bara'ah from Sultan Mehmed IV.
[6] However, a new decree was issued by the sultan, dated 21 January 1664, to support Andrew and an official delegate was sent to ensure that he was recognised as patriarch throughout the empire.
[7] Despite this, Andrew's jurisdiction remained limited to approximately eight hundred Catholic converts and he secured only the conversion of Abdulmasih's nephew, Gregory Peter Shahbaddin, bishop of Jerusalem, from amongst the Syriac Orthodox hierarchy.
[10] Abdulmasih's pretences came to an end with the arrival of his order of investiture from the sultan and he was rejected by the Catholics who held their own synod and elected Gregory Peter Shahbaddin as patriarch.
[11] The letter was received and soon followed by the arrival of a delegation from Malabar who further stressed the need for bishops to the patriarch at the Mor Hananyo Monastery.